Kemo
06-11-2023, 08:25 PM
WWE's championship situation has certainly proven to have everybody talking after a new WWE Women's Championship design was revealed this week.
On SmackDown, Asuka was presented with the new WWE Women's Championship, with the new title belt featuring plates similar to Roman Reigns' new Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. SmackDown also saw the announcement that the WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Championships will be unified later this month.
When it comes to Roman Reigns' Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, Fightful Select reports that plans for the unification came together after WWE Day 1 2022. That show was supposed to see Reigns defend his Universal title against Brock Lesnar, but after Reigns tested positive for Covid-19, Lesnar was added to the WWE Championship scene. Fightful adds that there were some plans last Summer for the titles to be split again, but they were nixed. Shortly after WrestleMania 39, firm plans were made to split the titles and have Raw with its own championship.
A WWE source told Fightful that technically, the histories of the Universal and WWE Championships are still separate. However, they believe that once Reigns is no longer the champion, the history of the WWE Championship (which dates back 60 years) is the one WWE will stick with.
The WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Titles are being combined, and Fightful reports that several people in NXT were confused when the NXT gold was created in the first place. Fightful was told there were plans in order to combine the NXT and WWE Women’s tag titles going back to April when the WWE Draft occurred.
The WWE Women's Tag Team Championships will appear on NXT programming when needed, and this was the original plan for the titles. Sources in WWE informed Fightful that the title unification would have happened sooner if not for the injuries in the women's tag division.
As for Asuka's new WWE Women's Championship, the similar plates to Roman Reigns' championship is no coincidence. WWE's intention is for the titles to be seen as of equal importance to their respective divisions. The change was also made "to clean up the Smackdown/Raw Championship situation that was muddied due to the draft." It is believed that Rhea Ripley's SmackDown Women's Championship will receive a similar update.
Fightful's report adds that “One point of frustration we heard from WWE sources was a simple misuse of the term ‘undisputed’ in two cases." Many find it odd that the term 'undisputed' is being used with Roman Reigns, considering that Seth Rollins is a World Champion. The same is being said for Asuka's new title having the word 'undisputed' on the center plate, despite Rhea Ripley being a women's champion. One higher up in WWE said “that’s admittedly confusing. I don’t know why there is an insistence on doing that, and a lot of people have brought that up and it’s been dismissed.”
On SmackDown, Asuka was presented with the new WWE Women's Championship, with the new title belt featuring plates similar to Roman Reigns' new Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. SmackDown also saw the announcement that the WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Championships will be unified later this month.
When it comes to Roman Reigns' Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, Fightful Select reports that plans for the unification came together after WWE Day 1 2022. That show was supposed to see Reigns defend his Universal title against Brock Lesnar, but after Reigns tested positive for Covid-19, Lesnar was added to the WWE Championship scene. Fightful adds that there were some plans last Summer for the titles to be split again, but they were nixed. Shortly after WrestleMania 39, firm plans were made to split the titles and have Raw with its own championship.
A WWE source told Fightful that technically, the histories of the Universal and WWE Championships are still separate. However, they believe that once Reigns is no longer the champion, the history of the WWE Championship (which dates back 60 years) is the one WWE will stick with.
The WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Titles are being combined, and Fightful reports that several people in NXT were confused when the NXT gold was created in the first place. Fightful was told there were plans in order to combine the NXT and WWE Women’s tag titles going back to April when the WWE Draft occurred.
The WWE Women's Tag Team Championships will appear on NXT programming when needed, and this was the original plan for the titles. Sources in WWE informed Fightful that the title unification would have happened sooner if not for the injuries in the women's tag division.
As for Asuka's new WWE Women's Championship, the similar plates to Roman Reigns' championship is no coincidence. WWE's intention is for the titles to be seen as of equal importance to their respective divisions. The change was also made "to clean up the Smackdown/Raw Championship situation that was muddied due to the draft." It is believed that Rhea Ripley's SmackDown Women's Championship will receive a similar update.
Fightful's report adds that “One point of frustration we heard from WWE sources was a simple misuse of the term ‘undisputed’ in two cases." Many find it odd that the term 'undisputed' is being used with Roman Reigns, considering that Seth Rollins is a World Champion. The same is being said for Asuka's new title having the word 'undisputed' on the center plate, despite Rhea Ripley being a women's champion. One higher up in WWE said “that’s admittedly confusing. I don’t know why there is an insistence on doing that, and a lot of people have brought that up and it’s been dismissed.”